FSU Football Fall Camp Observations: Offense Responds But Defense Continues To Compete

Florida State's offense got off to a strong start but the defense buckled down.

FSU Athletics

Florida State wanted a taste of adversity during its annual trip to Jacksonville. A bonding experience packed in between two physical practices, it's safe to say the Seminoles dealt with even more than they envisioned in the 904. After grappling with a change of scenery on Wednesday, Thursday's session at UNF felt similar to what we've seen the last couple of years.

The Seminoles are used to the Florida sun but the hot and muggy weather in Jacksonville was challenging. With little shade to hide under and nowhere to cool off (I even heard one player mutter "they didn't bring the ice boxes out here? They're trying to kill us" from the sidelines), the Seminoles had no choice but to push through and compete on the field.

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Head coach Mike Norvell called it an 'explosive' practice at the end of the day with the team moving towards it second scrimmage of the preseason on Saturday.

NoleGameday was in attendance for the session and we've listed some observations from different position groups and players below.

— Multiple former Florida State players, including Chris Thompson and James Coleman, viewed the practice from the sidelines.

— Ryan Fitzgerald connected from 29 yards and 39 yards. Jake Weinberg missed his attempt from 39 yards.

— The Seminoles brought out an iteration of board drills on the goal line in the middle of practice. With the team circled around the drill, FSU had an offensive and defensive player line up across from one another. A pad with a ball placed towards the offensive player was in between them. The goal is for the offensive player to grab the ball and fight through the defender into the end zone with the other side trying to help them out. The sequence brought out a ton of energy and competitiveness from the team. Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Andre' Otto even brought out an athletic flip after one rep.

I noted Grady Kelly, Jeremiah Byers, Byron Turner Jr., Kam Davis, Jayden Parrish, and Tomiwa Durojaiye as standouts during the drill.

OFFENSE:

— Florida State's offense got off to a good start after the defense controlled most of Wednesday's practice. The Seminoles went right to work with team drills in the red zone at the beginning of the session. The offense came away with points on all three of its possessions and nearly scored three straight touchdowns but an end zone catch by Elijah Moore was waved off after the wide receiver stepped out of bounds before the grab. There were still some lulls in the middle of the day but they finished strong which was positive to see.

— I thought Luke Kromenhoek was the most consistent among the quarterbacks on Thursday. In general, it felt like there were too many missed layups. The unit struggled to execute at times with a variety of overthrows on short and deep passes. Kromenhoek found his footing in 7-on-7, carrying that rhythm into third-down work and goal-line drills. He fired a pass to Kyle Morlock in the back of the end zone for a touchdown and hit Lawayne McCoy for a score on a roll-out with a throw near the sideline. Kromenhoek took a shot into contested coverage for Kyle Morlock in the end zone on a play where the ball popped into the air and right into the arms of Jalen Brown, who held on despite taking a massive shot from Cam Riley. Kromenhoek led the offense to another touchdown with a pass to McCoy over the middle in the end zone.

— DJ Uiagalelei hit Kyle Morlock on back-to-back passes in 7-on-7. On the second throw, he pump faked twice and kept reading the defense to eventually find Morlock working over the middle. Uiagalelei hit Malik Benson for a touchdown with a nice lofted throw over a defensive back in the corner of the end zone. He also connected on scores to Ja'Khi Douglas and Jackson West with not a ton of room to operate.

— Brock Glenn put a pass to Deuce Spann in a great spot on the sideline, allowing his receiver to make a play on the ball for a contested catch with Earl Little Jr. hanging in the area.

— Great day for Samuel Singleton with multiple touchdown runs where he accelerated away from the defense. He had a big play to the right, bouncing through a hole opened by Andre' Otto and Jeremiah Byers and exploding upfield. Singleton ran all the way to the end zone with Fentrell Cypress II in hot pursuit. He scored again late in practice, finding room to the left and getting into the secondary. I did like the effort from Byron Turner Jr. to chase after the running back for 40+ yards. Singleton is continuing to make a consistent impact, especially since the first scrimmage.

— Jaylin Lucas did his thing as well. Lucas had a roughly 40-yard run to the left side where it looked like he'd be stopped for a short gain. Instead, he put a move on a defender and quickly found himself at the second level of the defense with only the safeties there to bring him down. Lucas had a touchdown run up the middle with Darius Washington blocking for him downfield. He caught a pass out of the backfield for a score early in the day that had the entire offense running onto the field to celebrate.

— Roydell Williams scored a touchdown early in practice during red zone work. He had a big scamper in team drills and another solid gain on a pitch to the outside where Darius Washington sealed off his defender to open an avenue.

— Strong running from Kam Davis on Thursday where he was fighting off defenders for extra yards. He broke an arm tackle on a run up the middle and displayed his vision on another attempt, recognizing the position of a defender and cutting inside of his blocker to get free.

— Productive practice for Kyle Morlock. Consistently around the ball and making catches, including a few touchdowns.

— Brian Courtney scored two touchdowns in goal-line work at the end of practice.

— Andre' Otto had a good block to pave a hole for Lawrance Toafili to get near the end zone on a run.

— Jacob Rizy held up Tomiwa Durojaiye during 1-on-1's between the offensive line and defensive line.

DEFENSE:

— Following the offense's strong start, Shyheim Brown was the one who helped the tide begin to turn back toward the defense. He absolutely laid out Malik Benson on a short catch in team drills, letting the receiver know about it following the way. Brown is playing at an extremely high level ahead of the season.

— Stacking up the good days. Marvin Jones Jr. continued his strong play this week with a forced fumble and fumble recovery in team drills. Mike Norvell mentioned he was limited early this preseason after rolling an ankle the day before camp began. Jones Jr. is back to his normal self and has been a tandem to deal with opposite of Patrick Payton.

— Speaking of good practices, it feels like Edwin Joseph is becoming more impactful by the day. He made an excellent play on the ball on a throw down the seam, recognizing and leaping for a pass that he couldn't quite intercept. Still, the effort prevented a touchdown. Joseph deflected a pass late in practice that would've gone for a score.

— I thought this was one of the more active days for veteran defensive back Kevin Knowles. He competed at a high-level on a few routes deep down the field, preventing completions to Malik Benson and Lawrance Toafili. Knowles stayed home and wasn't fooled by trickery on one play, swiftly making a tackle.

— Cam Riley stonewalled Roydell Williams right at the goal line to hold him out of the end zone as multiple defenders swarmed in. Williams did get in on the next play but it was a good effort.

— Aaron Hester got by Jaylen Early, working into the backfield to tackle Jaylin Lucas for a loss.

— Sione Lolohea and Byron Turner Jr. combined to put pressure on DJ Uiagalelei and force an inaccurate pass. Turner Jr.'s motor stood out on Thursday, chasing Samuel Singleton all the way to the end zone on a touchdown.

— KJ Kirkland shadowed Deuce Spann on a route over the middle, ultimately deflecting it.

— Quindarrius Jones had a really competitive rep against Elijah Moore. Brock hit the true freshman over the middle but Jones didn't quit on the play, ripping out the ball as the two players went to the ground.

— Daniel Lyons batted down a pass at the line of scrimmage. KJ Sampson put pressure on the quarterback a few times. Tomiwa Durojaiye got in for a tackle for loss as well.

— Charles Lester hit a receiver as the ball arrived to force an incompletion.

— Josh Farmer easily worked by Richie Leonard IV in 1-on-1's. His strength and quickness can be hard to match.

— Ashlynd Barker got his hands on a pass thrown to the sideline but wasn't able to pick it off.

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